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Paper short abstract:

This paper analyzes the relationship between reflexive authorship and the political context of the academic scene in contemporary Turkey, focusing on qualitative researchers' field experience and the "hot agenda" of the country.

Paper long abstract:

The beginning of 2016 in Turkey faced a signature crisis related to the positionalities of social scientists upon political conjuncture, resulting in a nation-wide discussion on the social scientist's attachment with the country's "hot agenda". This event brought an old debate into public on the researcher's political and moral involvement into the research process. In this paper, we aim at exploring ways in which reflexivity is experienced and challenged in Turkish academia. How do the social scientists of Turkish academic scene experience their field research? Do they have incentives for reflexivity? How do they cope with the challenge of the "hot agenda" of the country? What challenges do they face when it comes to reflexive authorship? The data on reflexivity has been collected through semi-structured interviews and focus group discussions with social scientists who are or were affiliated with Turkish academic institutions at a stage of their career. Taking Gezi Uprising which took place in 2013 as a case, this paper intends to open up a debate on methodological approaches and choices which make both the research and the researcher fluid within the field experience. Doing reflexive field research in the Turkish academic context might turn out to be exhaustively challenging due to historically rooted relationships with academia and politics, and related precariousness in the academic job market. Nevertheless, in light of the data collected upon the 2013 case and our own field experiences, we argue that reflexive authorship is possible through negotiations of survival.